In for a penny in for a pound! My diary.

paybacktime2008

Hello all. Had my lightbulb moment on the 29th October and here I am, a little overwhelmed, a bit scared, feeling a bit foolish, but with an over riding feeling of "Bring it on!"

I have been working part time for last couple of years, kidding myself that I was affording to do that, but every month slipping a little deeper into debt. I am a single mum, to one son aged 7....who has hollow legs!, a dog, cat and rabbit.

At the moment my figures are a good guesstimate and as new statements come in I will update.

I start a new job on Wednesday, but will not get this new pay until end of Dec! I will post my SOA soon but am unsure what my income will be as tax credits etc will all change.

Ok enough rambling for now. Any encouragement, brutal (ish) truths or advice will be warmly welcomed.

benbenandme

Hello and welcome :hello: Please do try and post an soa, even if it is a temporary one for now, we love a new soa on here and can get cracking on trying to help you save some pennies straight away Good luck with your journey

Nomad25

Welcome payback. Here's the SOA link:

http://www.makesenseofcards.com/soacalc.html

To get any constructive input, it would help if you complete [it can always be updated] and post.

TurnaroundSue

:wave: Hello and welcome to the board. You certainly will get lots of help and support from the good peeps on this board and I wish you all the best in your quest for becoming debt free. Good luck!

paybacktime2008

That soa is very 'rough' and using figures for part time work which is what is the current state of affairs!

Nomad25

Now your'e up and running, I'll check back later and bump you if need be.

paybacktime2008

font=courier new]Statement of Affairs and Personal Balance Sheet

Monthly Income Details
Monthly income after tax................ 900
Partners monthly income after tax....... 0
Benefits................................ 300
Other income............................ 108
Total monthly income.................... 1308

Monthly Expense Details
Mortgage................................ 370
Secured loan repayments................. 0
Rent.................................... 0
Management charge (leasehold property).. 0
Council tax............................. 82
Electricity............................. 40
Gas..................................... 25
Oil..................................... 0
Water rates............................. 35.68
Telephone (land line)................... 0
Mobile phone............................ 45
TV Licence.............................. 11.61
Satellite/Cable TV...................... 0
Internet Services....................... 38.24
Groceries etc. ......................... 320
Clothing................................ 20
Petrol/diesel........................... 60
Road tax................................ 15
Car Insurance........................... 20
Car maintenance (including MOT)......... 20
Car parking............................. 0
Other travel............................ 0
Childcare/nursery....................... 80
Other child related expenses............ 5
Medical (prescriptions, dentist etc).... 0
Pet insurance/vet bills................. 10
Buildings insurance..................... 41
Contents insurance...................... 0
Life assurance ......................... 0
Other insurance......................... 0
Presents (birthday, christmas etc)...... 0
Haircuts................................ 0
Entertainment........................... 0
Holiday................................. 0
Emergency fund.......................... 0
Total monthly expenses.................. 1238.53

Assets
Cash.................................... 1500
House value (Gross)..................... 145000
Shares and bonds........................ 0
Car(s).................................. 2500
Other assets............................ 0
Total Assets............................ 149000

Secured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
Mortgage...................... 88000....(370)......0
Total secured debts........... 88000.....-.........-

Unsecured Debts
Description....................Debt......Monthly...APR
virgin.........................6000......30........0
barclaycard....................1500......30........0
halifax........................1500......30........0
barclays od....................1300......0.........0
halifax od.....................1600......0.........0
Total unsecured debts..........11900.....90........-

Monthly Budget Summary
Total monthly income.................... 1,308
Expenses (including secured debts)....... 1,238.53
Available for debt repayments........... 69.47
Monthly UNsecured debt repayments....... 90
Surplus(deficit if negative)............ -20.53

Personal Balance Sheet Summary
Total assets (things you own)........... 149,000
Total Secured debt...................... -88,000
Total Unsecured debt.................... -11,900
Net Assets.............................. 49,100

Created using the SOA calculator at https://www.makesenseofcards.com.
Reproduced on Moneysavingexpert with permission.[/font]

======== Enter any other useful information below ========

e.g. the number of adults & children in the household, the number

of cars included in the SOA or anything else that may be useful

paybacktime2008

Add to that £120 on cigarettes a month....yes i know i know i know!!!

jenjade

your grocerys are very high and your home insurance seems a bit dear to me.
me and my daugher shopping for food including household cleaning, cosmetics, shampoo etc comes to about £170 a month and i knew that is still a little high. so maybe you could look at reducing that?
shop around for home insurance

scaredy_cat

the first thing which is very high is your groceries! Try to cut that down to about £200-£250! There are some people here with 3+ in their family only spending £200. The Money Saving Old Style board has lots of tips and advice.

Also the smoking - that is almost equal to my grocery budget.

Edit: jenjade types quicker then me!! lol.. i think to cut your grocery budget gradually you won't find it so hard!

Prudent

I am afraid I agree with the groceries comments too. I feed two people and two cats a lot less. Amounts for last two months are in my signature.

Internet is also high - I pay £9.99 a month for broadband.